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Commendations

"Kyoto2 hits the nail on the head: we need to crank down the global supply of fossil fuels. This is much simpler and more effective than trying to cap emissions, an almost hopeless task. Climate change is a global problem that must be treated globally. Kyoto2 shows how this can be done."
Peter Barnes, writer and social entrepreneur.

"A fresh, accessible, cogent and bold case for a radical departure from most established thinking. Very seldom is an argument made with such gusto, sharpness and wisdom. Whether you agree with Oliver Tickell or not, your understanding of and thinking about this vital global challenge will be greatly enhanced by reading this book."
Caspar Henderson.

"This is a fantastic book - timely, important, and far-reaching, a key reference for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of dangerous climate change and current efforts to reduce it. Critical in tone and thought, Kyoto2 sharply examines one of the most urgent issues of our time."
William F. Laurance, Senior Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama; and former president, Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.

"Elegantly simple and eminently workable, this is a proposal that could change the world. Kyoto2 should be read by anyone with an interest in climate change policy."
Mark Lynas.

"This is the book we need, and not a moment too soon. It takes seriously the latest science, and sets out to achieve what is necessary, not what's easy."
Bill McKibben, environmentalist, writer and founder of 350.org.

"The most intelligent treatment of the politics and economics of climate change I have ever read. Brilliant, clear and unanswerable."
George Monbiot.

"Informative and illuminating, this is a radical assessment of where we're going on climate change (ever-further down the destructive slope) and where we could be headed with prompt and vigorous action (into a far healthier and still sustainable future)."
Norman Myers, Professor and Visiting Fellow at Green College, Oxford University, and at the Said Business School.

"Kyoto2 is bang on the nail. Exactly the kind of fresh, radical thinking that is now so urgently required."
Jonathon Porritt.

"Timely, original, and a must reading in the run up to Copenhagen. I already use it in my international master class. Kyoto2 finds me highly sympathetic, in particular in its attempt to get rid of the territorial principle. The only misgiving I have is that the proposal doesn't sufficiently account for the desire of the south to overcome the highly unequal structure power deriving from the unequal access to fossil energy.
Dr. Wolfgang Sachs, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy.

"Climate change is the overwhelming environmental challenge we face. Kyoto2 presents a compelling and detailed case for a radical new climate agreement. Future generations will endure untold hardship unless such an agreement - or something very close to it - is adopted by world leaders at Copenhagen before the end of the year."
Neil Sinden, Director of Policy, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)

Reviews

"Unless China and India can be induced to take a lower carbon path than the west, there is absolutely no hope for us ... Were the leaders of either country seeking a guide to determining a negotiating position in Copenhagen, they could do no better than Oliver Tickell's just-published book Kyoto2 (Zed Books), which provides a big-picture approach to the prevention of climatic catastrophe.

In essence, Tickell provides a blueprint for a global climate treaty. He documents the failings of the Kyoto protocol, then goes on to summarise the latest climate science, including the work of Hansen and his colleagues. The replacement to the Kyoto protocol, Tickell writes, must work effectively to achieve a level of atmospheric CO2 below 350ppm. At the heart of the proposal is a global trade in carbon with a series of reducing caps sufficiently rigorous to bring about such an outcome.

One of Tickell's most telling criticisms of Kyoto is its neglect of tropical forests as a means of sequestering carbon. The destruction of rainforests causes around 18% of the carbon going into the atmosphere annually, yet only a single project concerning tropical forests has been approved under Kyoto's clean development mechanisms. These allow for polluters to gain credits by investing in a variety of ways that reduce greenhouse gases. Dyson's analysis of the Keeling curve demonstrates just how powerful forests can be as sequesterers of carbon. It's widely acknowledged that Kyoto's successor must develop mechanisms that encourage the protection and regrowing of tropical forests.

Tickell's discussion of market mechanisms is densely technical, yet much of it reads as common sense. His emphasis on the urgent need for government regulation is also cogent and refreshing, for he recognises that carbon trading is necessary, but not sufficient to solve the problem. He calls clearly for governments to regulate so as to increase efficiency of energy use, to protect forests and to mandate approaches such as clean coal technologies, as well as discussing the need to limit population. Reading Kyoto2 gives one hope that there is a way forward. But will such recommendations ever be agreed to, and can they be carried out in time?"

Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers, concluding "Words of warming" in The Guardian, Saturday 9 August 2008.

"This is a short, intense and very readable book, with a clear and direct exposition of the Kyoto2 proposal for saving the world. Nothing less.

If you're hoping for deep exposition of the numbers which Tickell uses to make his case, you'll have to dig into his extensive bibliography. Kyoto2 critics should make sure they do that before opening fire.

All engineers will find something to annoy them - Tickell cites the Severn Barrage, wind power, nuclear fusion, hydrogen, carbon capture and fuel cells as parts of the solution, and every engineer is deeply opposed to at least one of those ideas (take your pick).

But so what? Tickell has a succinct and robust set of propositions. You could take away any dozen of the specific technologies and policies he cites, and Kyoto2 would still look like the only game in town. It's inherently strong, not at all dependent on any particular technology, and a prisoner to absolutely no ideology.

There are several dozen doctoral theses to be had on "the best" way to implement Kyoto2. Several of them have no doubt already been written. May the detail be done, in good time. Right now, I just want to get my shoulder behind the wheel.

So when the next election comes, I'll have a note pinned to my front door thus: "Election canvassers: if your candidate supports Kyoto2, ring the bell and tell me. Otherwise, go away."

Finally, if you avoid climate change books because the whole subject is such a downer (and is there any deeper downer to be had?), you will find this one a refreshing change. Tickell isn't going to be gentle with you - this book is more like a walk in the Outer Hebrides in a winter gale - challenging, invigorating, and a great hangover cure. Moping ends and action starts."

"In Kyoto2, Oliver Tickell makes a radical suggestion: that instead of trying to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide, we should instead go "upstream" and regulate the production of carbon-based fossil fuels. Think of a garden sprinkler: if you want to stop the lawn getting wet, you don't try to catch each drop as it falls - you turn off the tap."
Mark Lynas, writing in a sidebar to "Words of warming" in The Guardian, Saturday 9 August 2008.

"In Kyoto2: How to Manage the Global Greenhouse (Zed Books) Oliver Tickell presents a global programme for cutting greenhouse gas emissions that is both radical and realistic."
George Monbiot, writing in a sidebar to "Words of warming" in The Guardian, Saturday 9 August 2008.

Kyoto2 could be a way to help preserve the earths natural forests

The holistic approach outlined in Kyoto2 appears to be a credible way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over time whilst adapting old technologies associated with the production of fossil fuels, developing and expanding alternative clean and renewable energy options, putting systems in place to help countries that are now suffering from the effects of climate change as well as protecting them from future effects and looking at and developing geo-engineering solutions should they be needed in the future - all to be funded by the sale of permits to those most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions upstream close to the source.

What has particularly interested me, though, is that Kyoto2 has addressed the problem of protecting existing natural tropical forest, and of regenerating degraded forest, by attaching a monetary value to doing so and has achieved this without the conflicts that can arise when generated as an offset against CO2 emmissions.

It is extremely difficult to convince tropical forest resource owners/ managers to manage their forests in a sustainable way, ie reduce the amount of trees they cut per hectare, without compensating them financially just because it's the right thing to do for the long term. Many logging companies are only interested in generating revenue over the short term and are not convinced that the extra premium, or market access, that products from certification schemes such as FSC can attract outweigh the diminished revenue created by reduced allowable cuts and the perceived extra costs associated with reduced impact logging techniques that they would have to employ to meet certification standards. Furthermore, as quite rightly stated in Kyoto2, developing countries do not take too kindly to developed nations telling them to stop cutting down their forests when the developed nations have, more often than not, already cleared most of their own natural forests.

Kyoto2 suggests a viable way of dealing with this by paying forest owners / managers / local communities for not cutting down trees, or reducing the number of trees they cut, as well as for regenerating natural forest to store carbon and replace lost biodiversity. This type of approach could not only help to protect and regenerate the earths tropical forests but also adds in an extra revenue stream that makes sustainable forest management a much more attractive option to those who presently are not convinced of its economic viability.